Proposed Annual Operating Budget November 15, 2020
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FISCAL YEAR 2021 Proposed Annual Operating Budget November 15, 2020 Honorable Council President Matt Cherry and Members of Toledo City Council, I am pleased to present for your review and consideration the proposed Wade Kapszukiewicz 2021 operating and capital budgets. A budget is always a reflection of our Mayor values. This administration values transparency, accountability, equitable [email protected] investments in all of our neighborhoods, and most importantly, the team phone 419-245-1001 that works hard every day to ensure we achieve our goals. Our budget fax 419-245-1370 reflects these values. One Government Center Suite 2200 Toledo, Ohio 43604 The proposed budget revenues and expenditures total approximately $839 million with a general fund budget of approximately $283 million. toledo.oh.gov We have proposed a capital improvement to general fund transfer of $11 million and a $23 million reduction in general fund balance, decisions made necessary due to the severe negative budget impact of COVID. We have significant financial challenges to realize the baseline service needs that our constituents should expect and deserve from local government. The budget and department performance plans align with our five strategic priorities and include performance metrics to ensure continuous improvement in service delivery. Our strategic priorities are: 1. Basic Services: Provide basic services to residents in an effective and efficient manner. 2. Environment: Ensure all of our environmental resources, major equipment, andinfrastructure are efficient and sustainable for long-term viability. 3. Quality Investments: Make investments that improve the quality of life for all peoplewho live, work, and play in Toledo. 4. Customer Service:Employees take pride in providing excellent services to our residents. 5. Workplace Culture: Employees feel connected, valued, and appreciated. While 2020 has proven to be a challenging year, I am proud of our many accomplishments. Our budget discipline in 2018 and 2019 helped to cushion the blow of 2020. We used our CARES funding to stabilize small businesses and residents by providing grants, rental, and mortgage assistance to our residents as they navigate the financial impact of the pandemic. In addition to short term assistance, our 2020 initiatives, programs, and activities will have long term impact on moving our community forward. We made significant strides in reprioritizing community development on targeted neighborhood revitalization. Our five year consolidated plan includes Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Areas (NRSA) that would allow for more flexible use of funding to support development in our neighborhoods that need it most. Our revitalization strategy includes layering ongoing investments such as the LED light conversion, lead pipe replacement and lead remediation, and roads for greater impact. Passage of a new lead ordinance with a strategy for making 23,000 properties lead safe is being implemented and will continue over several years. We kicked-off the process to develop a comprehensive housing strategy and 10-year action plan that will provide a common vision for housing investment. The strategy will align with our comprehensive plan, which will provide a blueprint for future land use. This year also saw us turn year’s long blighted properties back into productive use. The site of the old Southwyck Mall, which has been vacant for 10-years, is now home of the new Amazon Distribution Center. After over 10 years of absentee ownership by an out-of-town speculator, the historic buildings at the “four corners” section of downtown were acquired by the Lucas County Land Bank – and now stand ready to be redeveloped as vital mixed-use residential and commercial spaces making way for increased economic development downtown. The 22nd Century committee’s downtown master plan made local control of the Spitzer and Nicholas a priority – in part because they sit on the only corner where all four original buildings still remain. We continue to support small businesses that our critical to job creation and retention, which is critical to our economic vitality. We also introduced legislation to support a disparity study that will provide recommendations on how we can increase procurement opportunities for minority- and women-owned businesses. We are one of five Ohio cities participating in the Forward Cities E3 Accelerator, an initiative to assess the health of our equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem. We now have the ability to make significant investments in our infrastructure. The passage of Issue 4 allows us to allocate approximately $19 million a year in residential roads. We are also making a $100 million investment in changing every water meter over the next three years. The replacement of 127,000 water meters in the city and Lucas County will allow for more accurate and reliable billing and reduced maintenance cost. The technology gives our customers information at their fingertips and allows them to be able to control their bills. We are transitioning all 28,000 conventional high-pressure sodium bulb streetlights to energy-efficient LEDs and will complete the project by the end of 2021 increasing public safety and saving the city annually on energy cost. We’ve also upgraded our website to make it more accessible to residents, businesses, and visitors. These are not only cost savings measures, but supports our strategic priorities to become a smart city by leveraging technology to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare. This past year has highlighted a need to focus on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in how we deliver services, invest in neighborhoods, and support our workforce. We are engaging experts to assist us with developing a DEI strategy that will focus on recruitment, hiring and promotions, implicit bias training, procurement diversity, equitable deployment of city services, and improved community- police relations. We will become a member of the Government Alliance on Racial Equity, a national network of governments working to achieve racial equity and advance opportunities for all. We are also one of 30 cities across the country selected into the What Works Cities Fiscal Health and Equity Initiative, a Bloomberg Philanthropies program. The initiative will allow us to manage COVID-19’s impact on our city finances while maintain equity as we work to meet the needs of the community. As we enter the final year of our 2018-2021 strategic plan, we will continue much of the work we have started in 2020. We will have greater financial transparency, as this budget includes resources for a budget and forecasting software that will allow us to align our financial investments to our strategic plan. We are making progress with implementing our data governance strategy and will introduce dashboards for the community to see how well we are doing with delivering services by visiting our new and improved website. During the 2021 budget planning process, we continued to engage the budget taskforce during bi- weekly meetings to ensure council representation. Keeping with last year’s process, we maintained an additional layer of transparency by ensuring Council members had the opportunity to seek clarity and provide feedback on the strategic plan objectives, potential budget solutions and operational and capital needs prior to submitting the draft budget for your review. We welcome additional input prior to the passage of the budget and will work with you to ensure opportunities for public input through the Council of the Whole meetings scheduled for December. The 2021 proposed budget aligns with the above data-driven priorities and includes, but are not limited to, the following initiatives to meet our goals and objectives: 1. Address public safety needs by allocating funds for a 31-member police class and a 50-member firefighter class. 2. Identify opportunities to leverage technology and other resources for increased investment in our environment and neighborhood infrastructure with a regional water commission, improving our urban beautification strategy, investment in lead safety, enhanced mowing operations, focused pothole plan and completing a city-wide 28,000 LED conversion by December 2021. 3. Ensure we are attracting and retaining a diverse workforce with the knowledge, skills and abilities to provide excellent services to our residents by investing in training and development, succession planning, recognizing employees for the contributions they make to our community, and aligning our succession planning and internship opportunities with regional workforce development strategies. 4. Following the passage of Issue 4, we are going to invest $19 million dollars to improve residential roads. We are committed to data-informed decision making regarding service delivery and budget alignment. Strategic priorities and goals will be included in department development plans and the leadership team will be evaluated on how well they are moving the needle to accomplish our goals. This continuous improvement process will ensure we are investing tax dollars in the areas of most concern to our stakeholders. Strategic Priority Performance Data Evaluation Analysis Strategic Budget Alignment Service Budget Program Alignment Alignment We are proud of the list of 2020 accomplishments that not only have regional impact, but also significant impact on our ability to provide high quality services to our